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Odds & Ends: Tim McGraw, Pink, Patti Smith, David Letterman, Wu-Tang Clan
Tim McGraw announces a special show to benefit Sandy Hook Promise … Pink tells “concerned” fans not to worry about her weight … Details are released for Patti Smith’s new book … David Letterman unveils guest lineup for final “Late Show” broadcasts … A recent “Divorce Court” case involves a woman accused of sleeping with the entire Wu-Tang Clan.
All net proceeds will go to the Newtown, Conn.-based Sandy Hook Promise, which was founded by family members that lost loved ones in 2012’s Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The non-profit organization helps provide parents and communities with mental wellness and gun safety programs to help identify, intervene and stop-at risk individuals from hurting themselves or others.
Photo: Wade Payne / Invision / AP
CMA Music Festival, LP Field, Nashville, Tenn.
“Out of this tragedy a group was formed that made a promise to honor the lives lost and turn it into a moment of transformation,” McGraw said. “Sandy Hook Promise teaches that we can do something to protect our children from gun violence. I want to be a part of that promise – as a father and as a friend.”
Dean Brown, a fiddle player in McGraw’s touring band, is a longtime friend to Mark Barden, a father whose child was killed in the shooting.
“We are humbled that Tim would do this for us,” Barden said. “Dean and his wife Cindy helped my wife and I through our darkest hour and helped buoy our spirits. It meant more than words could ever say.”
McGraw’s current tourmates, Billy Currington and Chase Bryant, will also appear at the show, along with surprise special guests.
Tickets go on sale April 17 at 10 a.m. EDT.
“I can see that some of you are concerned about me from your comments about my weight,” Pink tweeted April 12.
“You’re referring to the pictures of me from last night’s cancer benefit that I attended to support my dear friend Dr. Maggie DiNome. She was given the Duke Award for her tireless efforts and stellar contributions to the eradication of cancer. But unfortunately, my weight seems much more important to some of you. While I admit that the dress didn’t photograph as well as it did in my kitchen, I will also admit that I felt very pretty. In fact, I feel beautiful. So, my good and concerned peoples, please don’t worry about me. I’m not worried about me. And I’m not worried about you either ? … I am perfectly fine, perfectly happy, and my healthy, voluptuous and crazy strong body is having some deserved time off. Thanks for your concern. Love, cheesecake.”
Photo: twitter.com/Pink
The pop star added a photo of herself, in the aforementioned dress, and her husband with the caption, “and my hubby says ‘it’s just more to love baby’ (and then I smack his hand off my booty cause we’re in a supermarket)”
Another photo of Pink in the dress featured a caption about her daughter questioning why she’s “so squishy” and noted that the answer was “b/cuz I’m happy baby.”
Pink kept the conversation going by encouraging a follower who had been bullied online and retweeting photos of fans with body-positive messages.
Fans will get another peek into Patti Smith’s life with the release of “M Train.” The memoir is the follow-up to 2010’s “Just Kids,” which won the National Book Award.
The cover of “M Train” is a photo of the singer/songwriter snapped at Café ‘Ino in Greenwich Village, the day before the NYC restaurant closed, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Photo: pattismith.net
Click to see full image.
Readers will hop aboard the “M Train” for a “journey through ‘eighteen stations’,” beginning with Café Ino, where Smith gets her morning cup of black coffee. The book’s description notes that destinations on the trip range “from Frida Kahlo’s Casa Azul in Mexico, to a meeting of an Arctic explorer’s society in Berlin; from the ramshackle seaside bungalow in New York’s Far Rockaway that Smith buys just before Hurricane Sandy hits, to the graves of Genet, Plath, Rimbaud, and Mishim.”
The memoir is due out Oct. 6.
The countdown is on as David Letterman prepares to bid adieu to the “Late Show.” Of course he’ll need some help saying goodbye. CBS has announced the initial lineup for the final 28 broadcasts wrapping Letterman’s stint as the longest-running host in late night history at 33 years.
Monday’s show features Sarah Jessica Parker, 2015 Masters champion Joran Spieth and music guests Asleep at the Wheel.
Photo: AP Photo / Keystone, Georgios Kefalas
Baloise Session, Event Halle, Basel, Switzerland
Additional musicians taking the stage in the next few weeks include Chris Stapleton, Iron & Wine and Ben Bridwell, Tracey Chapman, John Mayer, The Avett Brothers and Brandi Carlile, Elvis Costello, Dave Matthews Band, Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones, Mumford and Sons, Ralph Stanley, and Amos Lee. More guests will be added in the coming weeks.
Letterman’s final “Late Show” airs May 20.
The “Divorce Court” drew attention to what has got to be one of the strangest episodes of its TV jurisdiction with a clip posted on Facebook Friday.
In “Palmquist vs. Sellers” Nathan Sellers accuses girlfriend Lia Palmquist of “sleeping with the entire Wu-Tang Clan.”
Photo: John Shearer / Invision / AP
Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, Empire Polo Field, Indio, Calif.
Palmquist says that although she didn’t get home until 7 a.m. after hanging out with Wu-Tang Clan on the act’s tour bus and in a hotel, Sellers has the wrong idea about the group.
“Nothing inappropriate happened, and let me just put on the record that Wu-Tang is nothing but gentlemen,” Palmquist said in the full episode, according to EOnline.com. The gossip site notes that the couple appeared on the court show because Palmquist wanted Sellers to pay $3,500 for giving her bed bugs in 2011.
The episode was posted on the YouTube page for “Divorce Court” in February.